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This photo displays some of the firearms seized from the home of Thomas Hartless during the execution of a search warrant conducted hours after Hartless shot and killed three people and himself in Kirkersville.(Photo: Bethany Bruner/The Advocate)Buy Photo

NEWARK - A year after the Kirkersville tragedy shone a spotlight on the Licking County Municipal Court's probation department procedures, the agency's director is advocating for changes to firearms laws.

"The acts of violence perpetrated by (Thomas) Hartless on May 12th would have been extremely difficult to carry out without firearms," Saad wrote. "Our current laws in the US and in Ohio make it easy for criminals to obtain firearms especially via a private sale, borrowing, or renting."

An investigation into the May 12, 2017 shooting revealed Hartless illegally possessed and likely illegally purchased at least one firearm used in the shooting despite a felony conviction barring him from owning a weapon.

Saad's department came under fire when an investigation revealed Thomas Hartless, who had been on probation after an early release from jail on misdemeanor domestic violence convictions, had not been located by his probation officer after Medrano had filed a police report and a protection order against him.

Those protocols include a new multi-tiered process in evaluating candidates for early release, as well as new assessments and home checks in domestic violence cases.

In the annual report, Saad said 183 domestic violence inventories — an assessment of the incident — were completed. Forty-six victims cooperated with a lethality assessment to determine their potential risk.

The 46 victims is solely reflective of victims who cooperated, Saad wrote. Statistics from Licking County Municipal Court show between May 12, 2017 and May 2, 2018, 65 convictions in domestic violence cases, either for a charge of domestic violence or a reduced charge, were recorded.

In that same time span, 119 cases were dismissed and 63 cases remain pending.

Saad documented 33 firearms were confiscated and 31 home checks were completed as of Feb. 7, 2018.

While these new protocols may assist in preventing domestic violence incidents from becoming fatal through the use of firearms in some instances, Saad wrote the entire responsibility cannot be placed on the shoulders of the probation department.

"All the criminal thinker has to do is attend a local flea market/gun show in his/her home state with cash in hand, lie about his/her background to a potential seller, and enter into a private sale of a firearm with said seller," he wrote. "After criminal thinkers obtain firearms, it is difficult for Police and Probation Agencies to locate and seize said firearms."

Saad also wrote about the requirement for agencies like probation departments and police to follow the law in attempting to seize firearms. While probation officers can seize firearms from a person on probation, they cannot take them from other people within the home who are legally permitted to own a gun.

"Hartless' father owned several firearms that Probation Officers could not have seized prior to the murders," he wrote. "The local police agencies and the Licking County Municipal Court Adult Probation Department had no knowledge of the murders prior to the murders happening."

Saad cited statistics from the FBI which indicate firearms were used in 73 percent of homicides in 2016. Those numbers are significantly greater than the percentage of homicides involving a knife (11.5 percent), unknown weapon (12.4 percent) and hands/fists or feet (4.7 percent).

"I also believe the absence of firearms on May 12th would have completely caused Hartless to change his method of operation that day," Saad wrote. "Maybe he would have even decided not to act on his impulses that day due to him not having his weapons of choice."

The Licking County Municipal Court had 247 domestic violence cases filed between May 12, 2017 and May 2, 2018.